Observer: Turkey's Interventionist Foreign Policy Counterproductive

As a staunch backer of Syrian rebels seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, Turkey recently dispatched tanks and soldiers to Iraq without Baghdad’s permission, ostensibly to protect Turkish forces training Iraqis fighting Islamic State militants.

While Ankara insists it remains committed to respecting a Westphalian foreign policy of respecting its neighbors' territorial integrity, recent actions indicate it has abandoned the decades-long protocol of non-interventionism.

"What we do in Syria, helping some militias trying to topple Assad, [and] what we are doing in Iraq, is quite an interventionist policy, based on values or, in certain cases, national interest," said Aydin Selcen, a retired Turkish diplomat who opened Turkey's first consulate in Iraqi Kurdistan.

"But traditionally, Turkish foreign policy was quite legalist and 'Westphalian' in nature," he added, citing the principle of international law that says every country has sovereignty over its territory and domestic affairs.

http://www.voanews.com/content/turkey-syria-iraq-interventionist-foreign-policy/3112449.html